Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“‘Ananias,’ Peter asked, ‘why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, were not the proceeds at your disposal? How is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You did not lie to us but to God!’”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, April 21, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Whoo this is a tough story. It’s so judge-y and punitive and completely lacking in grace and forgiveness. Ananias and Sapphira sell a field and instead of giving all the money to the fledgling commune of people following the Way, they keep some back for themselves. Peter confronts them one at a time and both are struck dead for their deceit.
I mean, come on. This is completely extreme for a bunch of folks who are going around preaching divine forgiveness. So there’s obviously a point to the story that’s more than what the surface action presents. I will attempt to unpack it a little.
What it comes down to, I think, is that Ananias and Sapphira didn’t trust God. They believed in Jesus and wanted to follow the Way, but they had to hang onto their own means in case things didn’t go the way they hoped. They were normal human beings. They were just like most of us.
Does that mean we deserve to drop dead where we stand? Of course not. But it does mean that we’re diminishing our own lives in some way by our failure to trust. When we rely on money and on self instead of God, we put up a barrier between us and God. It’s not a literal death, but over time it can become a spiritual death, a disconnect from the source of all light and life. In my mind, that’s worse. God wants us to hold nothing back from God, to trust in all things, and God promises to hold nothing back from us, whether we deserve it or not.
What things do I keep back from God out of fear or lack of trust?
